


the heart of the matter

by rarmaster



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Gen, Renegade!Lloyd, lloyd irving has three dads, more to be added later hopefully in theory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 06:35:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16928289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarmaster/pseuds/rarmaster
Summary: Yuan raises Lloyd.





	the heart of the matter

**Author's Note:**

> at the moment it's just a chapter, and maybe it will only ever be just this chapter (though I do have PLANS for how the rest of this AU pans out, and I do have HOPES to write more of it one day), but I was tired of sitting on it in case maybe I got the urge to write more of it. it's literally been months and I haven't yet, so, it's time to let this stop collecting dust
> 
> update: a collection of posts that inspired this AU can be found [here](http://rarmaster.tumblr.com/tagged/UNCLE-YUAN/chrono)

“Hey Uncle Botta,” Lloyd says, looking up from what he’s doing at the table just long enough to confirm that it _is_ his uncle, as if the only other two people who have a key to this private sect of living quarters in the Renegade base weren’t already inside of it. Sure enough, there Botta is, looking no worse for the wear, which is good, seeing as he just came back from a mission. He looks… tired, though. A little exasperated.

But Botta _does_ smile at his adopted nephew, so things can’t be all that bad. “Hi, Lloyd,” he says, coming over to kiss Lloyd on top of the head. Lloyd blushes a little, as if this isn’t how Botta greets him _every time_. “Where’s Yuan?”

Straight to the chase though, huh?

“In his office, waiting impatiently for you to get back, like always,” Lloyd answers, jabbing his thumb at the door behind him and a little to his right. They’re on hour three of Botta being gone, which means it’s shut, because Yuan has resorted to burying himself in Cruxis paperwork he doesn’t want to be doing to distract himself from being worried about his husband being out on Renegade business that Yuan is too high-profile to join in on. This always happens.

(Lloyd would poke more fun if he didn’t feel immediately and thoroughly terrified the moment either of his uncles mentioned Yuan had a meeting with Mithos. He _knows_ that Mithos isn’t going to hurt Yuan, and he _knows_ that it’d take more than a single conversation with Yuan to out the Renegades, but _what if what if what if—_ )

“Thanks, Lloyd,” Botta says, ruffling his hair fondly before heading in the direction of Yuan’s office.

Lloyd immediately gets to his feet to follow him, too nosy for anything else. Botta’s just going to give a report on how the mission went, anyway, which is Lloyd’s business as much as theirs. And if his uncles _really_ don’t want him hearing it, they’ll kick him out.

Botta opens the door without knocking, and Yuan pulls his head out of the sea of paperwork. His grin could set the world alight. “Botta!” he says, getting to his feet. Lloyd knows they’re only on hour three of Botta being gone, because Yuan walks around the desk, instead of jumping straight over it. Lloyd looks away so he doesn’t have to watch them kiss, and starts his count towards twenty. If they aren’t done by then, he’s either interrupting or leaving.

Whatever news Botta has about the mission, it’s either bad or urgent, because they’re done at five.

“How’d it go?” Yuan asks, leaning against his desk. He watches Botta expectantly.

Lloyd does, too, noting the way his uncle’s shoulders haven’t yet relaxed. Lloyd fidgets anxiously, thumb running along the inside of his belt since he can’t fiddle with his swords if he’s not wearing them. Botta takes a deep breath—more of a sigh, really—and chooses his words.

“It wasn’t a success,” Botta reports. “But, no one died, so it wasn’t exactly a resounding failure either.”

Yuan nods slowly. “That’s good,” he says. Then his eyes narrow, as the rest of what Botta said catches up to him. “Wait… the Chosen’s still alive?”

Lloyd makes a noise that falls somewhere between _disappointed_ and _disgusted_ on the upset-spectrum, landing a little closer to disappointed. “Aw, man, is _that_ what today’s mission was?” he groans. When both of his uncles shoot him a look of raised eyebrows, he rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I _know_ why we can’t let her finish the journey and resurrect Martel, but you promised you were going to come up with a better solution than just killing her!”

Botta cringes. Yuan sighs.

“There wasn’t time to come up with another solution,” he explains, “and she’s too close of a match to just ignore. Prioritizing the Seed comes over any one life, Lloyd.”

Lloyd huffs in return, folding his arms over his chest as he scowls. Yuan is _right,_ but it still leaves a sour taste in his mouth. He hates sacrificing people.

“If it makes you feel any better, Lloyd, I think killing her will be impossible,” Botta adds, after a moment. He sends his nephew a rueful smile, then turns his attention back to Yuan. “That’s the reason I rushed here, actually.”

“Oh?” Yuan raises his eyebrows.

Botta hesitates on his next words, eyes darting over once to Lloyd. Yuan’s eyes dart as well. Lloyd scowls a little deeper.

“I’m not leaving,” he makes it clear. Sometimes that doesn’t convince them, but today it seems to be enough for Botta. He shrugs, then nods.

“Kratos was there,” he states, plainly.

Yuan inhales sharply. Lloyd’s chest constricts.

“Like, my _dad,_ Kratos!?” he asks, as if there’s any other Kratos. Botta nods. Yuan puts a hand to his head, massaging his temples. Lloyd clenches and unclenches his fists, not sure what else to do with the anxiety that bubbles in his chest at the notion. He’s never met his dad before—not that he remembers, anyway. Yuan had his reasons for keeping them apart. Lloyd trusted Yuan’s judgement.

“You see why killing the Chosen will be impossible,” Botta says, sending a wry smile at Yuan.

Yuan exhales, long and slow. He pushes his fringe out of his face, holding it back against his head for a moment as he formulates his thought, then lets his hand and hair both fall. “That is… unfortunate,” Yuan says, voice low. “Even disrupting the journey will be difficult, now. Kratos is nothing if not good at his job. And we have no leads on how to awaken the Seed, yet…” He scowls up at the ceiling, searching for an answer.

Lloyd clears his throat.

“What if I go disrupt the journey?” he asks.

His uncles swing their attention towards him. Yuan looks surprised, but thoughtful. Botta looks like he might be sick.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Lloyd continues, just to get his case on the table before Botta tells him no and Yuan backs Botta up without considering it. He rocks back and forth on his heels with newfound energy. “Kratos may be good at his job and hard to kill, but… maybe seeing his son again will make him change his mind about what he’s doing?” It’s a hopeful thought. “And if not, having a Renegade on this journey will be nice, right? To keep tabs on the group!”

“ _Hmmm_ ,” Yuan says, and Lloyd very nearly punches the air with excitement because that’s the hum that means that Yuan likes the idea, and if Yuan likes the idea, Botta will have no chance talking him down. Score one for Lloyd.

“No,” Botta protests, scowling at his husband and his nephew. “ _No_. It’s dangerous.”

Yuan just smirks and rubs at his chin, clearly enamored with the thought and likely having as many reasons as Lloyd does for thinking it’s a good one. “Ironically enough, Botta,” he says, “we can trust Kratos to take care of Lloyd.”

Botta scowls harder at Yuan. “You didn’t think the same fourteen years ago,” he argues. Lloyd shifts his weight uncomfortably. He hates listening to this argument.

Yuan scowls back. “It’s different, now that Lloyd is older,” he counters. Older, and not ripe to be brainwashed by Cruxis, Lloyd knows. Botta knows it, too. Yuan doesn’t even have to say it, anymore. “Besides—it’s not like anything _else_ I tried cracked through that shell Kratos built for himself. Maybe seeing Lloyd will help.”

“Or maybe it won’t,” Botta grumbles, defensive. He crosses his arms over his chest, sulking. Lloyd feels fond. He knows Botta’s just looking after him.

“I’ll be fine, really!” Lloyd insists, in his most confident tone. “I can handle myself.”

“The Chosen’s next stop will be Triet, anyway, which means meeting up with her and asking to join on the journey won’t even be that difficult,” Yuan adds, still working out all the details of the plan as they talk. He pulls his eyes away from the ceiling and gives the full of their weight to Botta. “And we _can_ trust Kratos not to hurt him, if nothing else.”

Botta sighs.

Lloyd grins.

“So I can go?”

“I think it’s worth a shot,” Yuan agrees. “But.” His eyes fix on Lloyd, very serious, looking more like the leader of the Renegades than Lloyd’s uncle. “You’ll have to be very careful about what you tell Kratos. If you tell him you’re against the Journey of Regeneration from the get-go he won’t even let you join, and if you try and tell him it’s wrong, he’ll just dig in his heels. Little by little, you’ll have to wear him down.”

Lloyd nods. He can do that.

“ _And_ ,” Yuan continues. “If he knows you’ve been with _me_ this whole time, well… He won’t be very happy. We’ll have to work out a convincing cover story. You’ll have to _stick to it_.”

Lloyd nods again. “Okay, okay!” he says. He’s never done anything like that before—and is currently very deliberately ignoring how bad he is at lying—but he’s too excited about being useful to his uncles and finding a way to disrupt the Chosen’s journey without killing anyone to mind. Maybe he’ll even figure something out about the Seed problem!

“ _Yuan_ ,” Botta says, sternly. Yuan looks to him, and stops smiling. Lloyd looks, too, and deflates. That’s the face Botta makes when he doesn’t agree with Yuan—a rare occasion—which means Lloyd’s uncles are going to spend probably the next hour arguing. Lloyd fidgets with anxious energy.

“Come on, Uncle Botta,” he tries to get in, wanting to diffuse the situation early.

Yuan interrupts him, though. “We’ll work out the rest of the details later, Lloyd,” he says, flashing Lloyd a quick smile. “Go ahead and start packing a bag.”

A clear command to get the hell out of here. Lloyd still feels anxious, but—they’ll sort it out. They always do. And he _is_ really excited about the upcoming journey, so…

“Okay!” Lloyd grins and gives a mock salute, then runs to get his bag packed.


End file.
